Monday, 1 August 2016

A Review of Stretch Armstrong, Relaunched for a New Generation

I remember Stretch from my youth. Which might have been the 1970's. Just. Nearer the 80's, though, actually. *ahem* In 2016, Stretch has been relaunched, still wearing his trademark trunks, and is ready to captivate a whole new audience with his phenomenal stretching abilities. You can buy your own Stretch Armstrong from the Character online shop. L was sent a Stretch to try out and, since he had never heard of him, I was interested to see what he would think. We took Stretch for a little outing to the park, to test his twisty-stretchiness and really put him through his paces. Here's how we got on.

The first thing we noticed about Stretch is that he is pretty heavy. L's exact words were; 'Stretch, what did you eat?!'. Personally, I'm guessing bacon. And lots of it. I don't remember the Stretch of my childhood being especially heavy, but this one is probably a lot more robust and, at 30cm in height, he is a good size to play with. He certainly feels like he could take a pretty good hammering without incident. Jade and L tried various stretching experiments to test this theory, such as the 'climbing frame grapple'...

And the 'It's mine! No, I saw it first!' battle...

It was certainly refreshing to find a toy that was designed to be fought over! After an impressive amoount of stretching (up to four times his normal size!) Stretch returns to his original shape. This takes a while, but it's quite mesmerising to watch as he gradually inflates. I wish people did that. Stretch feels a bit like a giant stress ball and I'm sure he wouldn't object to being twisted and pulled by an angry grown up, so his appeal is pretty much universal. I think he may be a little heavy for very young children, but L has certainly enjoyed having him to play. I think today's children need a friend to beat up, just as much as their parents did and Stretch Armstrong fits the bill perfectly.

We were sent a Stretch Armstrong free, for the purposes of this review. All opinions are our own.